TL;DR

Sending government payloads to orbit can be a steady source of much needed income for nascent rocket companies like Elon Musks SpaceX and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin. All three of these rockets are expected to be able to launch heavy payloads to a variety of orbits. The Air Force has a lot of skin in the game too. The Air Force is expected to pick its two providers in 2020 one year before any of the new rockets are expected to make their first flights. This is the first time China has launched a space based research. and Russia now as the three global powers with proven ability to launch rockets into space from sea which is a competitive advantage when it comes to launch cots and potential incidental damage from misfires. Todays launch was also a joint effort with private industry and named after a relatively new Chinese luxury car brand called WEY. Problems with the spacecraft played a major factor in overall cost and schedule growth for major NASA programs. While programs like JWST and SLS have driven up average cost and schedule growth programs have done better. Several such missions reported no cost growth or schedule delays